Advice on starting our new lawn

[linrick1]

Hi all, Within the next couple of weeks I am going to attempt putting in a lawn over our septic system. The septic system was installed just before we bought the house a little over two years ago and while it was advertised as a "finished" system, it is about as "finished" as the surface of the moon...rough as ****, bunch of rocks and no topsoil so right now it just is a collection of weeds and looks awful. My plan is to York rake the whole area to clear out all of the existing growth with our Ford 1900 and then spread a bunch of loam with same. Should I be concerned about damaging the system with the tractor and how thick should I put the loam down? I would also like to hear your ideas on what type of seed to use and how best to sow it. Basically Im looking for all the advice I can get, sorry for being so long winded, Thanks in advance, Rick.

P.S. We live in the Northeast ...

[Botabill]

I would say the soil has settled in plenty to protect the weeping field pipe from any damage. I wouldn't go over the tank though because you never know how much weight it can stand and it is usually close to the surface. I had to replace a lawn over my weeping tile last year. I simply tilled it up good then broadcast by hand a mixed seed suitable for my conditions including some white clover on the surface. After the seed was down I broadcast some peat moss over the seed to hide it from the birds. Then I drove over it with my turf tired tractor until it was well pressed into the ground. Grew up real good. One year later I have a lovely lawn. Oh yes ... I threw in some 20/20/20 fertilizer into the soil before tilling.

[JackMentink]

I BUILT A HOUSE TWO YEARS AGO, AND LAST fall REVEGITATED MY DRAIN FEILD. I am located in mid Missouri.

I have a Low pressure pipe system which is a pumped pressure drain field that uses 1.25 inch pvc sch 40 perforated pipe that is buried just 10-12" deep. I brought in about 4 loads of topsoil to cover the low areas (480 feet of line in 6-80 foot lines). I spread it out as level as I could with my box Blade. I then tilled the entire field with my 6' king 3 point cutter tiller about 3-4" deep and got a very uniform and very fine seed bed. Actually hand raked the feild to remove some of the low spots and leveled it and seeded it with a 5 way blend of fine lawn fescue at about 300 lbs/acre , hit it with 300 lbs/acre of 13-13-13 and then rented a straw blower and blew about 45 bales of straw on the field.

The grass came up great last fall and further thickened this spring with a lot of rain. THE AREA LOOKS GREAT AND IS SMOOTH TO MOW.

The PtO tiller is the way to go. It gets everything so nice and powdery and even does well on our missouri clays. Lust have to work at it a little harder.

[MarkV]

My first question would be what type of septic system do you have. Some are fine to drive on and others not so.

If you have a lot of weed I would round-up the area, wait a week before leveling work and then add 2-4” of top soil. A soil test would help you make sure you are putting the right stuff down for your soil conditions. The county extension agent can help with the soil test and offer the best advice for local turf types.

MarkV

[linrick1]

Thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it. My leach field is setup with three 45' parallel runs of 4" perforated sch. 40 pipe buried in 3/4" stone about 6' apart and 2' deep. I dont have access to a rototiller and was wondering if not tilling the loam before sowing the seed will create a problem with germination or will our york rake loosen the soil up enough? I was also wondering if I should roll the whole area after sowing? As far as the weeds go, if it ever stops raining around here, I am going to roundup the area prior to cleaning it off. Thanks again to all, Rick